The Miseducation of Cameron Post

by emily m. danforth

Overview

Set in rural Montana in the early 1990s, emily m. danforth’s The Miseducation of Cameron Post is a powerful and widely acclaimed YA coming-of-age novel in the tradition of the classic Annie on My Mind.
 
Cameron Post feels a mix of guilt and relief when her parents die in a car accident. Their deaths mean they will never learn the truth she eventually comes to—that she's gay. Orphaned, Cameron comes to live with her old-fashioned grandmother and ultraconservative aunt Ruth. There she falls in love with her best friend, a beautiful cowgirl. When she’s eventually outed, her aunt sends her to God’s Promise, a religious conversion camp that is supposed to “cure” her homosexuality. At the camp, Cameron comes face to face with the cost of denying her true identity.
 
The Miseducation of Cameron Post is a stunning and provocative literary debut that was a finalist for the YALSA Morris Award and was named to numerous “best” lists.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062020574
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	05/28/2013
Pages:	470
Sales rank:	11,005
Product dimensions:	5.30(w) x 7.80(h) x 1.20(d)
Age Range:	14 - 17 Years

About the Author

emily m. danforth was born and raised in Miles City, Montana. She has an MFA in fiction from the University of Montana and a PhD in creative writing from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. She lives with her wife in Providence, where she teaches creative writing and literature courses at Rhode Island College and is coeditor of The Cupboard (Literary Pamphlet).

What People are Saying About This

Curtis Sittenfeld

“If Holden Caulfield had been a gay girl from Montana, this is the story he might have told—it’s funny, heartbreaking, and beautifully rendered. Emily Danforth remembers exactly what it’s like to be a teenager, and she has written a new classic.”

Sarah Waters

“Danforth’s narrative of a bruised young woman finding her feet in a complicated world is a tremendous achievement: strikingly unsentimental, and full of characters who feel entirely rounded and real. A story of love, desire, pain, loss—and, above all, of survival. An inspiring read.”

Nancy Garden

“This novel is a joy—one of the best and most honest portraits of a young lesbian I’ve read in years. Cameron Post is a bright, brash, funny main character who leaps off the page and into your heart! This is a story that keeps you reading way into the night—an absorbing, suspenseful, and important book.”

Editorial Reviews

If Holden Caulfield had been a gay girl from Montana, this is the story he might have told—it’s funny, heartbreaking, and beautifully rendered. Emily Danforth remembers exactly what it’s like to be a teenager, and she has written a new classic.

Curtis Sittenfeld

This novel is a joy—one of the best and most honest portraits of a young lesbian I’ve read in years. Cameron Post is a bright, brash, funny main character who leaps off the page and into your heart! This is a story that keeps you reading way into the night—an absorbing, suspenseful, and important book.

Nancy Garden

Danforth’s narrative of a bruised young woman finding her feet in a complicated world is a tremendous achievement: strikingly unsentimental, and full of characters who feel entirely rounded and real. A story of love, desire, pain, loss—and, above all, of survival. An inspiring read.

Sarah Waters

Cameron is a memorable heroine with an unforgettable and important story to tell, and she does so with wit, emotion, and depth.

Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

A beautifully told story that is at once engaging and thoughtful. THE MISEDUCATION OF CAMERON POST is an important book—one that can change lives.

Jacqueline Woodson

“Cameron is a memorable heroine with an unforgettable and important story to tell, and she does so with wit, emotion, and depth.

The Bulletin for the Center for Children's Books

[An] ambitious literary novel, a multidimensional coming-of-age.

Booklist (starred review)

Cameron is a memorable heroine with an unforgettable and important story to tell, and she does so with wit, emotion, and depth.

Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

"[An] ambitious literary novel, a multidimensional coming-of-age."

Booklist

"Cameron is a memorable heroine with an unforgettable and important story to tell, and she does so with wit, emotion, and depth.

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

Gr 10 Up—When 12-year-old Cam learns that her parents have died in a car accident, her first reaction is relief that they will never know that just hours before she was kissing her best friend, Irene. Shortly after the funeral, her conservative aunt moves to Miles City, MN, to help Cam's grandmother with the caregiving, but all the churchgoing and discipline they can marshal throughout Cam's teen years can't prevent her from exploring her sexuality further, finally falling for Coley Taylor, a "straight" girl who wants to experiment. When they eventually get caught, Coley tells all, blaming everything on Cam, and Aunt Ruth sends her niece off to God's Promise, a conversion therapy school and camp. It is here that Cam meets gay teens like herself, and she begins to deal with the guilt and trauma of her adolescence, not through the pious teachings of the camp but through the love of her friends. This finely crafted, sophisticated coming-of-age debut novel is multilayered, finessing such issues as loss, first love, and friendship. An excellent read for both teens and adults.—Betty S. Evans, Missouri State University, Springfield

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